Preparing Your Digital Life After a Terminal Diagnosis

Getting your affairs in order is an act of love. By taking care of practical matters now, you're giving your family one less thing to worry about during an already difficult time.

This page focuses specifically on your digital life - the online accounts that have become part of modern living. It's probably not the most pressing thing on your mind right now, and that's okay. But when you're ready, this information will be here.

Why digital matters

Most Australians have over 100 online accounts. When someone passes away, their family is often surprised by how many there are - and how complicated it can be to close them all.

Without preparation, your family may face:

• Ongoing charges from subscriptions they don't know about
• Locked accounts with photos or documents they can't access
• Weeks of phone calls and paperwork with different companies
• Uncertainty about what you would have wanted

A little preparation now can spare them all of this.

What you can do

There are a few approaches, depending on how much time and energy you have.

Option 1: Write down what you can remember

At minimum, make a list of the accounts you use most often. Include:

• Email accounts (these are often the key to everything else)
• Banking and superannuation
• Subscriptions (streaming, newspapers, software)
• Social media you want memorialised or closed
• Cloud storage with photos or documents

Store this somewhere your executor can find it - but not in your will, which becomes a public document.

Option 2: Use platform legacy features

Some platforms let you nominate someone to manage your account after you're gone:

• Google Inactive Account Manager - decides what happens to your Gmail, Photos, and Drive after a period of inactivity
• Facebook Legacy Contact - nominates someone to manage your memorialised profile
• Apple Digital Legacy - lets you name contacts who can request access to your data

Setting these up takes time - each platform has different steps. If you have the energy, it's worth doing for your most important accounts.

Option 3: Let someone else handle it

If going through dozens of accounts feels overwhelming right now, you can prepare by simply nominating someone and giving them the tools to act later.

This is what services like The Vault are designed for. You register what you know, nominate an executor, and when the time comes, we handle everything - including finding accounts you forgot about.

Paying for estate services

If finances are a concern, there are options:

Other things to consider

While you're thinking about practical matters, you might also want to address:

• Cryptocurrency - if you hold any, your family will need seed phrases or private keys. Without them, the funds are permanently inaccessible.
• Password manager - if you use one, you can add your executor as an emergency contact or ensure they know how to access it.
• Photos and videos - consider whether you want family to have access, and make sure they're stored somewhere accessible (not just on a locked phone).
• Business accounts - if you run a business, your partners or successors may need access to accounts, domains, or software.

You don't have to do this alone

If this feels like too much right now, that's completely understandable. You have more important things to focus on.

The most important thing is simply telling someone - a spouse, child, or executor - that your digital life exists and will need to be dealt with. Even that conversation is a gift.

If you'd like help with the practical side, or just want to talk through your options, you can email us at hello@itshandled.au. We're happy to answer questions with no obligation.